August 28th

Dear Kacey,

When you left, summer sucked. I honestly don’t know why you left, but I really don’t get why you had to leave during the summer. Why not before exams or January? Summer used to be our time. Don’t you remember when we were little and we’d spend every night of the summer at each other’s houses?! We used to get so excited about the summer that we’d start planning what we were going to do about a month before school ended.

There was that one summer when we planned to watch a hundred movies—we only made it to seventy-eight, but it was still an epic summer. Remember? We did it by making our own genres. I know you argued for B-movie horror week, but 80’s teen classic week was / is still my favorite.

Then there was that other summer when we tried to master a video game a week. Your mom got so mad at us for staying inside when it was nice out, but you came back with the best argument—“Mom, I know it’s nice out, but we set a goal to master one game a week. You should be happy we’re trying to achieve our goals.” What’s funny is that she left us alone after that. I think we ended up mastering seven games that summer.

And still, the title of “Best Summer Ever” has to go to the one when my parents took us on that camping road trip. We whined until they took us to every waterpark that we passed by. OMG, that was the road trip when you and I each had a vanilla milkshake from that sketchy-looking truck stop, and then we both got carsick. Well, technically, you got carsick first, and then the smell of it made me throw up as well. My parents were pissed, and then they made a rule that we couldn’t drink any more milk products before a drive. We stayed up every night staring up at the stars, talking about everything and nothing, until we either fell asleep or my mom came out and made us go to bed.

 

You: See that star up there?

Me: I see a million stars.

You: That one. The one beside the big one that looks like it’s blinking, almost.

Me: I think that’s a satellite.

You: Shut up, it’s a star.

Me: (laughing) Okay, whatever. What about it?

You: It’s called Kaceyopia.

Me: It is not.

You: It is now. And that one, just below it, that’s Saratarius. The legend is that …

Me: What legend?

You: If you’d shut it, I’ll tell you. Geez, interruptus, much?

Me: Sorry.

You: Okay, a long time ago, like a really long time, when there were Greek gods and monsters and stuff, there were these two best friends …

Me: Let me guess, Kacey and Sara?

You: Princess Kacey and Princess Sara, to be exact. But they were from different kingdoms and their families were sworn enemies, so they had to keep their friendship a secret. One day Princess Kacey overheard the Queen plotting to destroy Princess Sara’s family. She sent a … a wizard named …

Me: Zoltar

You: Really?

Me: Why not?

You: Okay, a wizard named Zoltar … to cast a spell on the other kingdom. A spell that would put the entire kingdom to sleep forever. But Princess Kacey didn’t want anything to happen to her friend, so she snuck out in the middle of the night, stole a horse, and fought countless monsters and dragons to reach Princess Sara before Zoltar could cast his spell.

Me: Wait. Doesn’t Princess Sara get to fight monsters and dragons, too?

You: Uh, sure. They both fought monsters.

Me: And dragons.

You: Yes, and dragons. Anyway, fast forward: after Zoltar had put all of the kingdom to sleep, he stormed the castle where Princess Sara was waiting, and of course she bravely did everything she could to fight him off, but he was too powerful and, just as he was pointing his wand and casting his spell, Princess Kacey burst in and dove in front of Sara to save her.

Me: And what happened?

You: She was too late.

Me: What?!

You: It’s not always a happily ever after. But, even though the spell hit both of them and they went to sleep forever, the power of their friendship turned them into stars, and now they are up there. And each time it looks like they are kind of blinking, it is actually the two of them laughing about their adventures together. The end.

Me: Kacey?

You: Ya?

Me: Why’d you leave?

You: You know I can’t answer that. Look around; this is just a memory.

 

We didn’t really plan out anything to do this summer. Actually, I don’t think we were talking much in the spring.

This summer sucks.

Sticks